Do you journal when you travel? Do you bring your regular journal? Have a special travel journal?

In the past I've brought along a small notebook just for the trip but I never wrote a lot. I think that was because each day was so filled with "go and do" that I didn't have a regular time when I could write. This time around might be different. This will be my third visit to Oaxaca, Mexico. I've pretty much seen all of the attractions and done the things a tourist should do, so this trip will be more about hanging out in cafes and bars, walking up and down streets that I have come to know pretty well, and visiting shops and museums off the cuff. Now...if I can just make sure that I take some time out to write a few times a day, I might be able to return with some journal pages worth reading years from now.

Comments

I always bring my regular journal on long trips but I honestly rarely write while I'm on holiday, even if my destination is a familiar one. I mostly just read, go swimming and explore. I'm just not hard-wired for writing on vacation :p.

My normal routine is always thrown off on vacation, so I have no guaranteed time to write. Generally the more major the vacation (i.e. overseas), the less likely I will have time to write, except on the flight.

I agree wholeheartedly that if you can find some time to write, you will appreciate having the pages years from now.

I love travel-journaling! I prefer to use a journal just for the trip, in the past I have preferred to buy the journal whereever I am going but that turned out to be risky because I couldn't always find a good journal. So I at least bring along a journal. I prefer Composition Books because the pages are large and you can fit big things, like menus, maps, tickets, etc. What I do is carry a small pair of scissors and glue and kinda "smash" while on the go. If I stopped somewhere to eat I would glue in a napkin and the reciept right there but since I wouldn't have time to write I would leave space to write later. It's not much different from my regular type of journaling, now that I think about it, but I carry less stuff. It's a little hard because I find myself wishing I had my washi tape and stuff, but that's what has worked for me in being successful at keeping a travel journal.

I do bring my journal on vacation, but like you mention, I never really have time to write in it because I'm doing so much on vacay. But what I do is that I write the entries in my Notes section on my IPhone when it is nighttime and I am done for the day and when I come back from vacation, I transcribe all of those notes that I wrote in my IPhone onto my journal when I can see down and have time to myself.

I typically bring my regular journal and pretty much do a bullet list of what I do each day with specific details I want to remember. That was wonderful for my wedding/honeymoon trip. Then I got home and did the real journaling.

On overnight-type trips, I typically grab any piece of paper and not a bullet list, or a quick entry that I tape into my regular journal later.

I've learned to adore travel journalling! I went to the US in 2011 and took my regular journal and wrote once, catching up when I got home so I missed a lot of stuff.

I went again in 2013 and took an empty journal to document Dragon Con. I dedicated time every day to writing, even if it meant staying up until 1 or 2am to get everything done. I kept every little bit of everything, receipts, cards from restaurants, postcards, stickers. So, this is what I had at the end of it:

It was a lot of work, but it was so, so worth it in the end.

A couple of months ago I spent 4 days in a city in England for a convention. Not flying this time meant I could bring scissors with me. When I go to the US I normally buy a pair at the first drugstore/Walmart we come across.

I did the same this time, sometimes journalling until 1am to document the convention. I wrote a lot in those 4 days:

I'm going to the US again in a couple of months & I'm already planning my travel journal. This time I'll be printing out some stuff ready to add throughout my trip (I'm landing in Canada & traveling to a couple of US states).

I take a lot of photos through my trips & leave spaces for where they'll go. I just print them out when I get home. Taking notes on my phone really helps with writing up the day when I have chance in the evening.

Great ideas guys. I am going to try out some of them this trip. I just got my first smart phone this week, so I could definitely take notes and write later. Also I'm bringing one of the many small note pads I have collected over the years; bulleting might be in order. Strange, I'm making more of a deal over which pens and pads to bring than the clothes I'll be wearing on this trip. Now...to check out some TSA-friendly adhesives.😃

Xdogbaitx,I had that fear of losing a travel-dedicated journal. I decided to take along two of these muji notebooks. They are thin so I won't worry about having some unfilled pages, and with two I will still be able to write if I should fill up the first. Plane leaves tomorrow but I've started writing in the first already.

In the former, I write the most personal aspects of the travel. Impressions, feelings, and also anything super important that I want to remember here in case I ever lose my travel journal. I also add things to my gratitude pages that I have inside the journal.

In the travel journal I write more "objective" things, so to speak. I explain where we went, what we saw, what happened, behaviors, the expenses... Also copy down entire dialogues if they're worth remembering.